let's go to you first, steve. based on our conversations this week, you like this deal a little more than do i. why don't you make the best case for it, for the deal? >> well, paul, this was for republicans a kind of eat your spinach moment. i just don't see any other alternative to what happened. and look, i think this is a rancid deal for so many reasons, especially the fact i think it's harmful to the economy. i guess my point, paul, would be i don't see republicans had much choice. i mean, you talk to john boehner and you talk to mitch mcconnell for six, seven weeks the president would simply not budge one inch on cutting spending and had no interest in doing that. the republicans believed and i think they're probably right if they'd gone into 2013 without the tax issue resolved they'd be pummelled day after day by the presid